# Stop hacking my Google! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 3, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-hacking-my-google/552450 "2010-09-03T00:29:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-hacking-my-google/552450/1 "2010-09-03T00:29:13Z")
So, somehow, when I search for something (I’m using Google Chrome & the standard Google function of its universal bar) I get a nice normal-looking Google page, then if I click on, oh almost anything in the page, I get a redirect. At the moment, it seems to being on left-click, not on right-click & new tab, but I think it’s done both in the past. I have a dark suspicion that somehow my overzealous Avast! antivirus which wants to scan everything all the time is involved, but honestly I don’t know what’s going on. I uninstalled Fiirefox this week because it had some stupid fatal recursion error. Hang on I have an old copy of Netscape on here (thanks to the previous user). … Doesn’t seem to be happening on Netscape Navigator. Hmm, it’s not everything in Chrome either. Seems like it does it on sites I haven’t been to before, maybe. … Hey, just now Avast! actually blocked the damn trojan, for the first time! This frikking thing has been happening for a couple of days I think. Kept redirecting me through two sites & then trying to download what claims to be a RealPlayer file. Also, I’ve had svchost.exe suddenly take over the computer at weird times, & I had actually uninstalled Avast! once for doing that too. Arggh arggh arggh I hate this crap. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-hacking-my-google/552450/2 "2010-09-03T00:32:34Z")
Oh, yeah, Chrome is totally doing it on Altavista too. So they’ve hacked my Chrome, & murdered my Firefox, which I couldn’t even get to work after reinstall. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-hacking-my-google/552450/3 "2010-09-03T01:10:59Z")
My firefox was taking me to some moviecop page from google. I installed the addons script blocker and ghost and it stopped. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-hacking-my-google/552450/4 "2010-09-03T13:11:37Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > So, somehow, when I search for something (I’m using Google Chrome & the standard Google function of its universal bar) I get a nice normal-looking Google page, then if I click on, oh almost anything in the page, I get a redirect. At the moment, it seems to being on left-click, not on right-click & new tab, but I think it’s done both in the past. I have a dark suspicion that somehow my overzealous Avast! antivirus which wants to scan everything all the time is involved, but honestly I don’t know what’s going on. This was happening to me for a while too, on my work computer (which doesn’t have Avast, but never at home, where I do use Avast, FWIW). It seems to be fixed now, but I don’t remember what if anything I did to fix it. ETA: This was with good old Internet Explorer. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-hacking-my-google/552450/5 "2010-09-03T14:03:48Z")
He he! “Hacking your Google”. That’ll make you go blind and put hair on your palms. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-hacking-my-google/552450/6 "2010-09-03T14:08:58Z")
I love my Mac.🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Baracus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-hacking-my-google/552450/7 "2010-09-03T14:16:18Z")
I had the same problem (virus) and fixed it using [ComboFix](http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix). It isn’t your browser. The virus replaces some of your windows drivers. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-hacking-my-google/552450/8 "2010-09-03T15:28:37Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > I love my Mac.🆒 The joys of UNIX. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-hacking-my-google/552450/9 "2010-09-03T15:41:35Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > I love my Mac.🆒 Where’s the profit in hitting the _non_-popular option? I bet my Commodore 64 is even safer than your Mac, for just the same reason. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-hacking-my-google/552450/10 "2010-09-03T15:42:42Z")
> [@Gukumatz](#): > > > [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > > > I love my Mac.🆒 > > The joys of UNIX. See post #9. ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-hacking-my-google/552450/11 "2010-09-03T15:52:21Z")
I love my paranoia. And my Gnome Windows XP. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-hacking-my-google/552450/12 "2010-09-03T16:20:35Z")
> [@Baracus](#): > > I had the same problem (virus) and fixed it using [ComboFix](http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix). Once you’ve corrected the problem with ComboFix (it works, really!), make sure all of your software is updated – especially Acrobat Reader. I got a Trojan exactly like you’re describing after visiting a legit news site with a malware ad; I had an older version of Reader installed, and this particular Trojan exploited that. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-hacking-my-google/552450/13 "2010-09-04T04:25:51Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > > [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > > > I love my Mac.🆒 > > Where’s the profit in hitting the _non_-popular option? I bet my Commodore 64 is even safer than your Mac, for just the same reason. Dude, that’s nothing. I got my Timex-Sinclair nearly 30 years ago, and it _still_ keeps the door open when I want it to stay open.